Innovative solutions addressing a systemic threat: climate change
We’re proud to launch our Insights Series, as we look to the future through the lens of our Chief Scientific Advisor, Laura Zamboni. Here, is Laura’s vision for an enticing future…
Quick Links
- Toward an irresistible sustainable future
- The roadmap to solve climate change is still long
- Why is climate change relevant today?
- What is the evidence on climate change?
Toward an irresistible sustainable future
Climate change is often portrayed as an ethical issue. It is also an economic driver, structural to the functioning of our society. Afterall, it alters water and air cleanliness and increases the temperature to an uncomfortable level. More broadly, we are losing touch with the environment in which humans have evolved to thrive.
Our climate is a planetary-scale system that connects faraway places.
Its stability has supported all forms of life, including humans. We have unconsciously adapted to this climate for centuries, from the temperature at which our bodies function to the water we drink and the food we eat.
Sustainable agriculture
As I walked along the crest of the hill today, I was surrounded by white butterflies and a smooth landscape dotted with blooming sunflowers, glowing with vibrant yellow. The sky was deep blue, and the air felt wonderfully clear and crisp, almost as if it had recently snowed, though it hadn’t. Below, a combine harvester worked silently in the golden field of wheat, its presence free of noise or disturbance. Across the hill, vineyards were interspersed with pines, shielding grapes from the excessive heat.
Sustainable cities
Walking toward the city, I crossed a tree-ringed park surrounding it. It was much cooler there. At night, the fireflies’ dance mesmerizes visitors. Moss patches absorb the intense downpours that we will inevitably experience. They are part of a drainage system that directs excess water into the aquifer, thereby preventing floods and mitigating droughts.
In the shaded plaza, kids play ball daily, and instead of the pungent, smoky-burnt smell, the air is filled with the strong, herbaceous scent of geraniums, which helps to keep mosquitoes at bay. Vibrant purple bougainvillea paint and cool the buildings’ south walls.
With no hurry or errands to run, people enjoy drinks and laughter in the late afternoon sun, on the new green rooftop bar. Urban designers have creatively arranged seating, flower pots, and tables, making this rooftop a local favorite. One might even overlook that it was built using recycled cement from demolition sites.
Sustainable food
Some days I head to the coastline. The seafood is fished while preserving the environment, and sustainable aquaculture practices are in place. The local variety of beloved small mussel, known as mosciolo, is no longer at risk of extinction, and the restaurants are thriving again, serving this delicacy to both tourists and locals.
What year will this be? 2030? 2040? 2050?
I have a solid collection of plant-based, low-carbon delights that I regularly enjoy, and I have seen the nearly laughed-at choices of vegetarianism and veganism become an ever-present option on menus. I also have a vision for livestock, one that respects animal welfare everywhere, does not pollute local communities, and includes traditional food.
In my mind, I see it every day. I envision a functional, self-sustaining, regenerative, strong economy, thriving people and communities, in which waste is no longer sent to distant places. Where the bad-looking, bad-smelling pollution no longer exists. And even the invisible, odorless CO2 has returned to safe levels.
The roadmap to solve climate change is still long
It is the year 2025, and some of what I see still consists of a ‘vision’ for the future. Why would we want to solve climate change?
‘Imagine‘, the famous song by John Lennon, has inspired generations of ‘dreamers’ who not only hope for a better world but are also determined to build it, one innovation at a time.
However, achieving this vision takes more than the three minutes the song lasts. Even though advancements like electric combine harvesters and agroforestry exist, the roadmap is still long.
Why is climate change relevant today?
We see the effects of climate change become very real.
Whether or not climate change is relevant today for you and me depends on our ability to connect it to our daily lives, our values, and our concerns. In the UK, online searches for climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef are more frequent than those related to food security, mortality, and health.
We were told that climate change was a matter of the distant future. A future we could ‘discount away’ and make climate action seem less worthwhile and not urgent. Instead, the costs of actions are rapidly rising, and we are experiencing the impacts of climate change today, primarily through reports of extreme weather events.
‘Poor grass,’ for instance, is the antithesis of the United Kingdom’s defining landscape. And yet, it is a summer 2025 reality. This year’s reduced pasture for grazing is compelling livestock farmers to significantly anticipate tapping into their winter feed reserves. Along with dusty soils and the unprecedented need to irrigate cereal crops, these are consequences of the drought that affected the UK last summer, following months of limited rainfall and elevated temperatures.
Shortages and higher prices are expected, as evidenced by the struggles of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower to grow. More generally, the Bank of England underscores that food shocks convey the repercussions of extreme weather conditions into the economy, owing to their substantial impact on households and heightened inflation. A significant food security issue, considering that as the climate warms, droughts are likely to become more frequent in the UK.
On a positive note, organic farms have weathered the drought slightly better than their conventional counterparts. This resilience stems from soil health and resilient fields, which result from management factors.
Valencia’s flood in October 2024 provides another example. Its footage resembles an apocalyptic Hollywood movie more than the real event it actually was. It costed over €30 billion, and 232 people lost their lives. Climate change fuelled the area with extra humidity – turned rainfall, via an unnaturally warm Mediterranean Sea.
Extra humidity – turned rainfall exacerbated by climate change contributed to the tragic flash flooding that killed 100 in Texas this past summer.
These are snapshots of the “state of emergency declarations” and “natural disasters” piling up every day, near and far.
In England, rescue and evacuation from water incidents by the Fire & Rescue Services have increased by ~40% compared with 10 years ago.
In the US alone, there has been one disaster declaration every four days in 2024, CNN reports, based on official data and often about a billion-dollar losses, as seen, for example, in the devastating wildfire that ravaged Los Angeles in January 2025, or hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.
Scientific analysis confirms a global trend in the number of fatalities, deeming the influence of climate change as “indisputable”, and leading to a fivefold surge of “natural” disasters over 50 years.
Climate change isn’t the sole driver. Our economies, societies, and nature are complex, and many factors are intertwined. Climate change systematically ups the ante, and with other factors unchanged (or our societies not “adapted” we shall say) “unexpected” remains the common description by survivors and emergency responders.
Our economies are analogous to an elderly person walking and stumbling in a hole in the ground; falling might be fatal. It is in our hands to both fill the hole and strengthen the elderly’s health. Mitigating and adapting to climate change, respectively.
What is the evidence on climate change?
Not only is climate change real, but it has also globally accelerated. [Ref 1]
The Met Office’s recent “State of UK climate in 2024” report confirms this trend specifically for the UK: records are broken more frequently, and extreme heat and rainfall are “becoming the norm”.
A prime example is the heat wave that occurred in July 2022, in which “human-caused climate change made the event at least 10 times more likely,” scientists at Imperial College London stated.
Perhaps not coincidentally, online searches for heat waves have peaked in July in recent years.
Broadening the perspective, the scientific evidence undeniably shows that climate change increases extreme events, everywhere on the planet, and that “humans are unequivocally responsible for the climate change we are now experiencing”, the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states. This is a powerful statement; ‘unequivocally’ is not a common word in scientists’ reports.
It results from tens of thousands of published scientific articles, validated data, and a massive review compiled by hundreds of leading experts worldwide. This process is unparalleled in any other field of science, and a vast professional consensus endorses what professionals call ‘the evidence”.
It would be wrong, however, to entirely pigeonhole IPCC reports as a dire warning of a bleak future.
I recommend shifting the narrative from the impact of climate change on us to the benefits of climate action for us. Taking action does not require austerity and scarcity. Done well, it could result in improved health, increased wealth, greater fairness, and better job opportunities.